Monday, March 09, 2015

The Wonderful World of EAuthors

Because I read 99.5% ebooks these days and since the big
publishers actually charge MORE for an ebook than they do for a print book and
I REFUSE to pay MORE.Here are just a
few examples of why I’m not reading the big authors these days

Rogue Spy- Joanna Bourne

$7.99 Mass Market paperback - $8.21 Kindle

Run to You - Rachel Gibson

$4.68 Mass Market - $8.99 Kindle

Hard to Come by –
Laura Kaye

$7.12 Mass Market - $7.99 Kindle

Mind Games by
Carolyn Crane

$6.33 Mass Market - $9.12 Kindle

I could go on, but you get the picture.

Update – in the interest of fairness, I just finished
comparing prices for a lot more books and it seems prices are coming down for
ebooks, though still not what I think they should. Source Books and Harlequin are the two best New York publishers who also publish in eform. Avon at the opposite end, often are charging $2 MORE for an ebook than a Mass Market book - at least here in Canada - yet another reason I loathe them. In my mind, publishers should charge $2.00 LESS for
an ebook as there is no cost for printing, shipping and any number of things
that ebooks would cost less for.Of
course none of that should be put on the authors.I believe they should get the same amount
whether it be an ebook or a print book.

But to a great extent the damage has already been done.

Most of the authors I’ve been reading these days are either
self published or their publishers are small epublishers.As a result, I’m finding a lot of authors I’d
never heard of before and many of them are VERY GOOD.And the prices I’ve been paying are VERY
reasonable.

They recently did their Annual Poll at AAR and while I
submitted books for quite a few of the categories, I knew the odds of any of
the books/authors I picked would even make honorable mention.But because I’ve been so impressed with so
many of them, I want to highlight some of the gems I’ve found so that other
ereaders can check them out too.

Today’s author is Peggy L. Henderson.I’ve read 4 of her books so far and plan to
keep reading more. All the books I've read so far have been Western Time Travel though she does have some Westerns that don't involve the traveling of time too. Every book I’ve read
has been at least a 4 out of 5.Here are
the reviews of the first two books I’ve read by this really good author.

I recently came across this really nifty keen site called BookBub. It sends me daily ebook deals.

Yellowstone Heart Song was in the first bunch of recommendations and talk about score, score, score!!! It was free, it’s mash-up of Time Travel and Western romance and it was very, very good.

Aimee Donovan, a trauma nurse, thought the old man she met in the hospital was pulling her leg when he told her he could send her back in time 200 years so she could do some backpacking in Yellowstone before it became such a tourist place. She humoured him and quickly through together a backpack with only the bare essentials.

Next thing she knows, much to her shock, is she has indeed been sent back to a place she knows but doesn’t know and realizes that time travel does indeed exist. Though she is an experience back packer, she does manage to get herself in a bit of a pickle and is surprised to be rescued by two men, one of whom is a mountain man named Daniel Osborne and is the son of the old man who sent her back and the one she was told to connect with. Daniel is less than pleased to run into this strange but beautiful young woman in the middle of nowhere. Zach, the time traveling father had told Aimee before he sent her back NOT to say anything to Daniel, so Aimee is hindered in what she can say to him as to who she is, how she got there and what her plans are.

I really, really enjoyed this story. I love time travel and I love westerns so this hybrid was right up my alley. And both Daniel and Aimee were wonderful characters. Daniel was in turn grouchy, resentful, gentle and thoughtful. He lived in his element. He had loved and been rejected cruelly in the past and did NOT want to have anything to do with another white woman. He fought his growing feelings for Aimee but it was a losing battle. And I loved Aimee as a heroine. She was a perfect kind of person to travel back in time when life was more primitive. She’s an experience back packer as mentioned and is very much at home in the wilderness. Though she knows quite a bit, she and Daniel bond as he shows her more survival lessons.

And of course Zach’s insistence that Aimee not tell Daniel anything about being sent from the future comes back to bit them.

The secondary characters are excellent. I love the teasing his “brother” Elk Runner. And Aimee has a best friend in the present that apparently has a story of her own further down the line.
The writing is very good and her descriptions of the area very clear. I’ve never wanted to visit Yellow Stone before – but now – maybe. I found this story very moving and touching in places and funny and sweet in others. As I said, this book is free at the moment but there isn’t a doubt in the world that I will be getting the rest in the series and any other book I can find by this author. I’m a happy little camper with this discovery.

I knew after finishing the first book in this time traveling western series, Yellowstone Heart Song that I would be reading the rest of the book in this series, this one, Yellowstone Redemption, is the story of Sarah Osborne, daughter of Daniel and Aimee from the first book, and Chace Russell, a traveler from the future.

Chance is mysteriously sent back in time after passing out drunk the previous night. He almost dies of exposure and when he is drooped off at the cabin where Sarah and her family live by a small group of natives, Sarah nurses him back to health.

Once he realizes he really has traveled back in time, Chase is like a fish out of water. He has no real coping skills for living the kind of life he's been sent back to and must rely on Sarah while her parents are away on a rendezvous.

I loved Sarah. She was completely competent in the wild but unsure of herself in dealing with a young man she is attracted to. She has lived a somewhat isolated life, though she has many friends among the native tribes. But she doesn't know how to deal with her growing feelings for Chase.

Chase was a slightly more difficult character to warm up too. You just KNOW there is a good guy wanting to come out. And he has reasons for being the way he is, but he comes across as a bit of a jerk at the beginning. But as he learns and grows and adapts to the time he's been sent to, he grows on one.

Another thing I couldn't quite figure out is why the author had him come back in time from so far in the future. He comes from the year 2035 and I couldn't help feeling that's too far advanced. That's 20 years from now and considering how far we've come as a society in just the past 10 years, well I'd rather she have had him from a time closer to today's tine.

I did love visiting with Daniel and Aimee again. They appear iin the second part and are still hale and hearty and madly in love.

So while this one doesn't get quite as high a rating as the first one, still., I really did enjoy it and am quite pleased I bought the whole series in a bundle.

I think as a marketing idea, this is brilliant. Offer the first book free and hopefully get the reader invested in the rest of the books in the series as well as other books the author may have written. It worked out great in this case *grin*

I have two more (so far) by this author I will post

'til later

ETA

And oh, oh!!! I forgot to mention that Yellowstone Heart Song - the book I gave highest marks to, is free at Amazon right now - so go! Get it! It's a good one :-)

I think it's brilliant when they have the first book free to try out to see if the author 'works' for the reader. In this case she really does and I plan on getting more of her books. After I read the first one, I bought the bundle of the rest though I haven't read them all yet. And then I got two of a different series.So I hope this author 'works' for you too.

Pricing hasn't effected me too much - but to be fair I don't buy a lot of books. Between ARCs and any freebies I get at conferences my TBR can be seen from space. I tend to only buy when 1) Harlequin is having a sale - damn them or 2) someone recommends something that's right up my alley.

This being said? I don't hinder myself by format (I still read print - and happily - although most of my reading is spent on digital these days since that's how I get 99% of my ARCs). So I'll price match. I won't pay over $10 for an ebook, but I'll happily pay hard cover prices on a print book if it's an autobuy author. And then I'll pass that hard cover book on to a friend or family member to read - something I can't really do with digital.

Conversely, I won't buy an ebook just because it's "free" or 99 cents. I have to have an interest to begin with, and I'm super-duper selective with self-published titles.

I also am trying to use the library more - mostly for audiobooks which I just don't see myself ever buying (even though prices have come down a bit). This is also my source for hard cover books by new-to-me authors, mostly in the mystery/suspense genres.

I did download the first Peggy Henderson book you recommended because it was FREE! I can take or leave time travel, but hey - it's a western! I'm going to get around to it one of these days....

Renee - I didn't think I would EVER prefer ebooks - I was a hold out. But there are so many things I prefer about an ebook now. One of the biggest ones is the size of the font. It's getting harder and harder to read a print book as my vision while trying to read is the pits. Plus - I can read in the dark with an ebook as the screen is back lit and there are so many other reasons too.And I'm stubborn. Except for about 3 or 4 authors I won't pay the asking price of a print book anymore.

AL - Thanks - I went over there and commented.

Wendy - FREE, FREE, FREE. You have to love free. And since they spent the vast majority of the time in the past, it comes in much more of a Western than it does a Time Travel - if that makes sense. And I don't get a book automatically either when it's free or real cheap. I detective work it :-)